


Destiny's Crossroads

by mike50333 (mike_the_warmonger)



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-05
Updated: 2014-03-05
Packaged: 2018-01-14 16:20:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1273042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mike_the_warmonger/pseuds/mike50333
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zhàn Shí, a young fugitive of the Fire Nation, just wanted a chance to leave his past behind.  To find Yu Dao and live out the rest of his life in safety and peace.  And he was damned close to doing that too.  All of the people he cared about were gone, his own country branded him a traitor.  There was nothing to tether him to this war anymore…</p><p>And then Ty Lee showed up.</p><p>When his childhood friend finds and rescues him from certain death at the hands of Brigade 140, he finds himself in thrust back into the fray when he finds that she too is a fugitive.  What’s worse, she thinks that she can find solace and redemption in joining the Avatar.  Of course, Zhàn wants no part in this pipe dream, but funny thing about friendships.  The loyalties they forge tend to overrule common sense…</p><p>The journey will be perilous, he knows.  To escape his country and Princess Azula and find the Avatar will be a challenge in itself.  To assimilate into their ranks could prove deadly.  To defeat the Fire Nation?  During the absolute pinnacle of their power?  Outright suicide.</p><p>Yet for Zhàn, it’s the stalking haunts of his past he has to try and outrun more than anything else…</p>
            </blockquote>





	Destiny's Crossroads

_Chapter 1: Enemy of the State_

* * *

“…I swear…I hate being a fugitive," Zhàn groaned, trudging through the thick undergrowth that polluted the ground of Ember Woods.

His mind floated from navigation to pondering. Pondering how freaking hot it was, how horribly humid the air was, and how despite all of this, his throat still felt like sand had been poured down it when he breathed. He swallowed what little saliva he could retrieve to relieve the torture, but instead the itch worsened, as if there were ants crawling in his esophagus. He felt a cough coming on and hitched his breath. Of course now, his mind was at war with whether to deal with the searing heat to his throat the cough would bring, or allow himself to be vulnerable to capture due to unconciousness. Before he could come to a decision, his lungs chose for him. He threw an arm to his mouth as the coughing began.

Zhan wanted to laugh at this, but between the coughing and the burning throat, he'd be lucky if he could even gargle out a whisper. Regardless, it was still funny how something as mundane as the corgial mandates of covering his mouth when he coughed survived three years in war, let alone two weeks as a fugitive.

Even so, he desperately longed for the cooling relief the river would bring. If only he could find it...

When the coughing stopped, he moved his hand from his mouth to his forehead, brushing aside the tangled mess of his hair from his eyes. He frowened at the brown streak that stained his pale skin. It was then that he felt an irritating itch encompass his entire being beneath his armor, reminding him of the need for sanitation as well as hydration.

He forced his mind to refocus on the task of navigation, but not before a tree root materialized underfoot. Aching muscles and a tired mind tried to react and soften the fall, but to no avail. His kiss with the ground was intimate indeed. His nose, for certain, got a lot of action, and left the Earthbending Goddess a token blood offering for its blessings of gravity.

Zhàn groaned, pushing himself upright with shaky arms, and stared at the small puddle of blood beneath him.

“Well. I feel real lucky now. Perhaps a migrant gopher-bear will sniff me out.”

Rising himself up on weary legs, all the while bracing himself on the tree that the root was helping to sustain, he actually began to consider this.

“Hmm... Who knows, maybe a gopher-bear would make good company. I’d have a little travel companion, he could help me hunt down food.” Zhàn glanced down, eyes latching onto the black dots and scars that littered his armor. “Heck, I’d even have some extra muscle to deal with the soldiers."

Zhàn couldn’t help but laugh at that. He could just imagine- a _gopher-bear_ as a travelling companion. It could be quite beneficial. The bear would help keep the soldiers away. In return, Zhàn would give the thing all the fish and berries it could eat. Yeah, that could work. That could definitely work.

...Oh dear Agni... He was imagining having a gopher-bear as a travelling companion... What was next? Komodo Rhinos? Dragons? Civilians?

Zhàn’s pace slowed. He couldn't ignore how heavy his legs felt anymore. It was as if they were laden with metal braces. It wasn’t long before they commited insubordination out of exhaustion, giving out and causing Zhàn to fall onto another tree. The soldier kept enough control of his movements to shift his weight on the tree from his shoulder to his back, and slid down as gravity won out. Zhàn knew he couldn’t afford to stop. The river wasn’t that far away, and he couldn’t take the risk of falling asleep again, it was too soon. But his body wouldn’t listen to reason. And for that matter, neither would his mind.

Staring at the foliage before him, and the little rabbit that’d decided to hop out in front of him, he let his face fall into his hands. There were no tears to shed, no screams to bellow, no distracting laughs to hoarsely shove out. Only one question, born of a year of heartache and loneliness, culminated by two weeks of running and hiding from people he once considered friends, brothers, family when he could not be near blood-kin.

“Am I the only person in the Fire Nation who doesn’t get the point of this war anymore?”

The rabbit, of course, only stared at the strange boy. Upon realizing that the biped giant before him was neither a threat nor amusing, the rabbit hopped away to its own devices. Zhàn only shook his head at this and thought back to the start of his trials,wondering what he’d wondered a hundred times before.

What could he have done to change all of this?

* * *

It all began in the woods north of the Fire Nation Capital Plaza. A handful of Earth Kingdom soldiers managed to escape capture after the failed Black Sun Invasion. It had only taken a couple days for the fugitives to be rounded up by patrols. Being stubborn and unyielding like their element, most of the earthbenders put up a futile fight. Zhàn's troop, however, had a different experience.

At midday, Brigade 144 found one of the earthbenders a few miles north of Caldera. Being outnumbered twelve-to-one, the soldier swiftly surrendered. After placing the man in shackles, the Fire Nation troops searched the surrounding area for any remaining combatants. Zhàn volunteered to stand guard over the prisoner while the others were gone.

Guard duty, while important, was usually a light job, so Zhàn used this time to observe his foe's features. His bodily countenance was nothing abnormal. Tall, broad, muscular, plenty of scars that he seemed to wear like precious medals. His face was weathered, hair gray and beginning to thin. The soldier was certainly older than would be expected.

What was far less expected of the soldier was his attitude. In fact, it was downright foreign. He had an air of peace about himself that simply made no sense. Zhàn had participated in captures before and the prisoners were usually angry, spiteful, some were even depressed and with good reason. Fire Nation prisons were well known neither for their comfort nor their food. Yet this man was calm despite his current state of captivity.

The young soldier couldn't help but find him positively bizarre, and by extension, intriguing. Having grown tired of simply staring, Zhàn decided he wanted to learn more about him.

"So, why did you wuss out of the fight?"

"…You're talking to me?" The soldier's voice was gruff yet strong, not at all weary or shaky as Zhàn had expected.

"Well, unless there's another earthbender about to crush me with a boulder, I'm pretty sure that I am." The boy chuckled. "So again, why the wuss-out?"

The earthbender, sitting on the ground of the forest with his hands and ankles in chains, looked up to the firebender's face. The old man looked annoyed. Zhàn simply smiled, letting the old man know that he was not going to let up. Eventually, he sighed.

"I suppose when you've been fighting as long as I have, you know fights are and aren't worth waging."

The boy nodded. "You certainly seem seasoned enough," he responded with a playful smirk, leaning against a tree and crossing his arms. "If you don't mind my asking… how long have you been fighting in this war?"

"Do you mind my asking why it matters?" the old man spat. He was certainly justified in his aggression. It's not often that enemy soldiers try to strike up a casual conversation.

"I guess it's not really _that_ important, but the other members of my troop won't be back for at least another twenty minutes, and I personally like to try and converse with my prisoners. Besides, you're shackled up and I have no reason to attack you.” Zhàn paused and waited. There was no reply. “It wouldn't hurt to answer my questions – I mean it's not like I'm asking for secret information about the Earth Kingdom or anything. If you feel inclined to spill some info on that, though, go ahead. I’m all ears," Zhàn finished, flashing a playful smirk. The older grunt frowned at this.

"And if I refuse to answer your questions?"

"Then I'll just keep asking you until you talk," Zhán replied, still smirking.

The man sighed in defeat.

"Fine… I'm 72 now, so including this year… I've been serving for 34 years."

The boy's eyes flew wide open and his jaw practically hit the dirt.

"You're _72 years old?_ "

"Yes, I am. Didn't know there was an age limit for soldiers." The man was now scowling at his captor.

_Jeez, I usually manage to go longer before I piss people off._

"I meant no disrespect." Zhán chuckled as he continued. "It's just, I've never seen a soldier so old on either side of this conflict before. I've seen generals and admirals around your age, not common grunts."

"Hmm." The soldier's demeanor started to soften, mirroring the young man's earlier smirk. "I must say, _you_ seem a bit _young_ to be serving. Surely you're at least eighteen?"

"I'm actually two years below your minimum age requirements, and I'm on to your tricks, buddy. Don't try to switch roles on me." Zhàn bit back the want to laugh a bit at the oddity of the situation. Here he was, a Fire Nation grunt, having a semi-casual conversation with an old earthbender fugitive. He could only imagine what the other soldiers in his unit would think if they saw this.

"Well, if I'm going to be chatting with a prisoner like this, it's only proper that I know your name. Would you mind sharing?"

"My name is Chén Zhuó,” he said bluntly. “Yours?"

"Zhàn Shì." Out of habit, Zhàn bowed to Chén with the Fire Nation hand greeting as he provided the man his name. The man simply sat and stared.

"So, you're sixteen years old and you're serving in the military. Why have I never encountered soldiers this young before?" Chén asked with one brow cocked.

"Believe it or not, there are soldiers as young as _thirteen_ years," Zhán pointed out. "It mainly depends on their station. A few soldiers around my age are sent abroad, but most teenage troops are left in the mainland for domestic purposes. Some of us serve as security in prisons and some in local towns in the island chain. A lot of them were called to Caldera not long before the invasion."

"Caldera?"

"The name of our capital," Zhàn replied without chalance. "Anywho, I was one of the few teen soldiers to be sent overseas and my platoon has been fighting in the Earth Kingdom up until this month. Since then, our unit's been a part of Capital Defense… hence why you're in our custody." Zhán chuckled, again. "I'm guessing most of your fighting has occurred in the Earth Kingdom up until the other day?"

The earthbender nodded in reply.

"I've spent most of my time in service helping to clear out Fire Nation settlements in the Earth Kingdom."

"Fun,” Zhàn said simply. “I assume it’s a challenge clearing one of those towns out, huh?” Zhàn knew he was sounding like a jerk, but there was something he needed to understand. A piece of knowledge that nobody in the Fire Nation had yet proven to possess. Chén would probably want to bash his head in by the time Zhàn was done, but the boy couldn’t begin to care. Besides, it's not like they could ever be friends, and he certainly didn't want to give it a thought. Harmony simply didn’t exist between opposing forces. Why try to foster a pointless illusion?

Chén glared at Zhàn, his face denting in disgust again. “And what makes you think it would be?”

“We have a superior means of communication with our messenger hawks," Zhàn stated matter-of-factly, as if he were citing notes from a report. "We can relay information in mere hours where your ostrich-horse mounted troops could take days. Our soldiers are equipped with armored vehicles and we have ships far superior to any other nation’s. Not to mention we have air power now. We can coordinate better than your nation can, and our soldiers all follow one man and one banner. I’ve lost count of how many jurisdictions and principalities there are in the Earth Kingdom. It’s no wonder you all have never-”

“We didn’t have the Avatar before to help rally us!” Chén shouted in furious rebuke. “We may have been divided in the past, but now we now have a banner to march under, a light of hope to guide us.”

 _That's it?_ He chomped on his lip to keep his thought from forming into words. When a new set of words formed, he unleashed his tongue.

“But what has become of your midnight-hour savior’s return? Ba Sing Se has fallen, the Earth Kingdom is under our heel, and your invasion failed utterly.” Despite what his words might have suggested, there was no gloating, no celebration, no cheer in Zhàn’s voice. Instead, there was curiosity. No, not just curiosity anymore. What initially was curiosity had been warped into a pleading, longing, savage want to know the one thing his country and its men had never succeeded in explaining to him. “What in the world could you hope to gain now? How can you even try to fight back when we are so close to victory? What could possibly drive you when there simply _is no hope?_ ”

“My son is my drive!”

Zhàn fell silent at this declaration. He grit his teeth together and kept shivering eyes dead onto the whites of Chén’s. He refused to allow the grief and guilt to show on his face.

"He was born about a month before I joined the military. I cherished every waking moment with him before I left, but that's the last I ever saw him. My…my boy was killed three years later in a Fire Nation raid on my village. I've fought so long in the name of the Earth Kingdom because I know how hard it is to lose a child…I don't want another father to have to go through what I've gone through…" The voice of the elderly man started to break, only now matching the stereotype of his age. His hurt flowed out of him like a rushing torrent of water. Tears slid down Chén's face as he fought back sobs.

Zhàn sat there, unable to determine what would make for a proper response. He felt honest sorrow for the man, complete sympathy. But they were on opposite sides of the war; what use would his words be to this man? After a few moments of silence, his conscience poking at his brain like an irritating schoolyard pest, Zhàn numbly gave the veteran his condolences.

"I'm sorry for your loss."

The next set of words came without thought, a simple truth that his mind failed to analyze or filter.

"Guess we've both felt Death's sting."

Chén's brows dug trenches in his already war battered face. His teeth were bare like a starved saber tooth moose-lion.

"You little bastard. How _dare you_ try to play down the devastation of the Earth Kingdom! The effects of this war is completely one-sided, your vile country is behind it all! It was _your_ Fire Lord Sozin who killed off the Air Nomads! It was _your_ Fire Lord Azulon who robbed us of our resources and families of their fathers! _It was your Princess Azula who'd slain the Avatar! '_ We've both felt Death's sting?' You Fire Nation dogs haven't felt anything _close_ to the pain we've endured!"

Where the boy simply had wanted to move on with the conversation, he now found himself plunged into a sea of anger as he shot to his feet, glaring at Chén like his uttered words were a mortal sin. "You honestly don't think the Fire Nation has suffered _its_ share of losses?"

"What losses? You've never had your entire civilization exterminated! You've never seen your home, your village, your _family_ , burned to the ground! You've never lost a son! You've never lost _anyone!_ "

"We've _all_ lost people in this war!"

"Like who?"

"Like Li-" He stopped, his jaw snapping shut to keep the remainder of that name from escaping. He had promised to never bring her up again _._ Not to him, not to anyone _._ But he couldn’t - _wouldn't -_ allow that man to believe his previous words to be a lie. He had plenty of names, plenty of faces to use in place of hers. But only one brought forth as much heartbreaking anguish.

"My...dad. I lost my dad."

He may have deflected his thoughts, but his emotions had not abated. His heart yet hammered with anger and his lungs were still weighted with despair. Tears collected in his eyes, the image of the Earth Kingdom soldier before him blending with the foliage around him. His fists were balled now, but his voice was lost of aggression, replaced by sorrow.

"He was a general, one of the few that still believed in getting his hands dirty and fighting alongside his troops. He died about a year after I was drafted into the military, killed during a failed raid on an Earth Kingdom military base in the southwestern region of the continent."

"You mean the assault on Nán Lóu?"

Zhán blinked furiously, looking Chén straight in the eye. His expression was stoic.

"How do-"

"It's one of our most praised victories."

Zhán stared, looking for some sort of emotion. Elation, cruelty, boasting. _Anything_. But Chén showed nothing. No apathy, yet no sympathy. No glee, yet no condolence. Just rough, jagged rock.

"Continue."

The boy stared still, nearly at a loss for words. "…What?"

"You aren't finished. Continue."

"Continue…with what? What could I possibly tell you that you don't already know?" Zhán's voice was tinged with rage and pain, his eyes watering with tears. "That he ignored orders not to attack that base? That all of his fellow generals, that the Fire Lord _himself_ said to wait? That _I_ pleaded with him to wait until he had support?" His voice quivered now. "What do you want to hear? That my father, the man who my mom and I have always loved and been proud of just _threw away his life along with one hundred Fire Nation soldiers for a stupid base? That I never got a word of condolence from the Fire Lord or anyone in the upper brass? That nobody in my troop even gives a damn?!"_

With his tirade ended, Zhán lost the feeling in his legs as he fell against the tree behind him. He slid down its trunk as he hid his grimacing face from Chén. He buried his head between his arm-laced legs as sobs surged up his throat. The soldier tried to keep them as quiet as possible, reducing them to hisses rather than the loud cries he wanted to release.

As the convulsions of his throat started to weaken, Zhàn looked up to Chén. Zhàn didn’t want sympathy or pity, and he didn’t expect either. Yet his eyes still looked to the veteran's, still searching.

Chén’s eyes had started to soften, but they were far from a cloud’s cushion. Rather, they’d smoothened from spiky crags to rounded stone. "I suppose you were right."

“No need to rub it in,” Zhàn said with a sniffling chuckle.

"Well, you know my life story,” Chén started, not missing a beat. “So what was _your_ motivation when you first joined the military?"

Zhàn barked a chuckle. "My joining would be Dad's fault. Early on, I was really proud of him…still am, I guess, discounting that raid. He used to be retired, taught me a lot of stuff. I gained my love for fighting from my constant sparring with him. When he got called back into service, I wound up missing him so much, I joined the army, on the sliver of hope that I just might be assigned to a battalion that Dad would be over.

"In case you're wondering, I wasn't so lucky." A smirk played on his features. "Or maybe I _was."_ There was a brief silence before Zhàn's voice parted the quiet again. "Funny thing about losing someone, makes you think. Took losing my own dad to become aware of the fathers we were taking from others. Made me hurt for them..."

The shroud of silence was cast yet again. And soon, it was lifted. "So, do you despise the Fire Nation?" Chén's right brow cocked in interest.

"What?”

The veteran said nothing, simply staring at the boy. Zhàn, however, was in a stammering fit, his mind trying to form a response while simultaneously repeating the statement over and over, as if the words coming from the earthbender couldn’t _possibly_ make sense. And of course, they didn’t. Not a single word. After nearly a full minute of incoherence, all Zhàn could manage was, “No, o-of course not! I love the Fire Nation! How could-"

"So then you really _do_ support the things that your country has done to-"

"No, I _don't_ ," Zhán interrupted, his voice stern and eyes locked hot on Chén's. "I _love_ my country, just like you love yours. I had friends here, just like you have yours. I've had family here, just like you had your own. But I don't like this war…at least not what we've done in the name of it."

"You claim sympathy, yet you continue to fight in the name of your Fire Lord?" Chén asked with his brows once again furrowed.

"Well it's not like I could just up and quit–"

"Well you're still here, aren't you? Still wearing the uniform, still fighting on Ozai's behalf? Or are my old eyes playing tricks?"

Zhàn glared at Chén again, his scowl strong and indignant.

"Do you have _any idea_ what we do to traitors here?! We don't just kill them off like you all do, we _torture them! Indefinitely!_ And if there _is_ an execution, it takes place before the royal court! Before the nobles of the country! With judgement administered by a member of the royal family, if not by the Fire Lord himself! It’s not even just the traitor, but their family and friends!"

Chén held his stare towards the younger soldier.

"You're doing a lot of talking, yet all I hear is that your skin is worth more than millions of lives."

"I don't condone the actions of my country, but I have no choice in the matter, I can't-"

"Actually, you have two choices: you can put your freedom on the line and betray your country in the name of what you _know_ is right, or you can keep sitting around doing nothing about it like the spineless jellyfish you are. Your friends, your family, they and you are all worthy sacrifices for the cause against tyranny. If you’re not willing to sacrifice everything you have for what you know is right, then your supposed sympathy is nothing but wasted air."

Zhàn felt like a lead weight was slammed onto his shoulders with the words dealt him. Zhàn confessed that he had contemplated such things in the past, during his darkest times, but he knew in the back of his mind that such thoughts were suicidal. To desert the Fire Nation military and live was the equivilent of getting life advice from a rock. And even if he _were_ to defect, what could he possibly do?

Zhàn’s chest was heavy, like he’d just collapsed from sprinting a mile. “You have to understand, it isn't that simple. I-"

"Seems simple to me," a baritone voice proclaimed.

The young soldier's heart leapt straight into his throat and his stomach sank into the dirt. A startled Zhàn jumped to his feet and spun around to see one of his platoon members behind him, tossing glares between he and their captive. This soldier was roughly twice Zhàn's age and had a very muscular build. As a firebender, he didn’t have speed or nimbility to help him in a fight. But what he lacked in those areas were made up for in stamina, brute force, and easily sparked rage.

"Jián, I…I… How long have you-" Zhàn stuttered.

"Long enough," responded the muscular grunt.

He grabbed Zhán by his throat and pulled the young soldier's face up to his own. Zhàn tried to loosen his neck from the man’s choking grip, but it was as pointless as trying to free a mouse from the bone-crushing maw of a snake. With his free hand, fire pouring from it like it were kindling wood, Jián readied for a strike against Zhàn’s face. His eyes clamped shut, his breath hitched, ready to suffer the blazing blow, when a voice called out. A voice that Zhàn knew so well. A voice that, for the first time in his career, brought him dread instead of security.

"Stand down, soldier."

The voice was that of his troop captain, Pão Yín. Zhàn tried to turn his head to see his captain, to try and read his face, his expression, but Jián’s grip kept his neck from rotating.

"Captain,” Jián cried in challenge to their superior’s command, “this _punk_ has committed treason against the Fire Nation! Surely you aren't-"

"Jián, take the earthbender and go ahead. You'll rendezvous with the remainder of the troop shortly," Captain Pão interrupted, pointing at the earthbender who hadn't moved an inch or made a sound since Jián's entrance. " _I_ will handle the boy. Understand?"

"But captain!" Jián protested. In response, Captain Pão glared at the man and bore his teeth.

"I said…do you understand?" he growled.

Yielding to the captain's command, Jián threw Zhán to the ground and roughly grabbed Chén, forcing the man to his feet. He then shoved the fugitive forward as they headed towards the remainder of the troop. Zhàn stared after Chén, desperation weakening the influence of his rationale as he sought the earthbender for help. Instead, Zhàn only received a dull glare. The man was just like his element. Stubborn and unyielding. There would be no help for him there. There would be no hope for him anywhere.

Zhán set his fearful eyes upon his captain, seeing that he was flanked by two of the spearmen of the group. The man, who already was tall, _towered_ over Zhàn as the teen lay paralyzed in fear. His arms, respectably muscular, were crossed in grim disappointment.

"Of all people, I would have never expected such treachery from you."

The captain kept his voice level, but his eyes were livid with anger. Zhàn felt like he was being scolded by his father as he stumbled to his feet. There was a heat rising in him, a knot trying again to form in his throat. His entire body itched with heat and sweat.

"Captain, I- I can explain-"

"I don’t see what needs explaining," The captain said cooly. "You clearly don’t like the policies of our military."

"Captain Pão, I don't- I mean, I just...let me-"

"By showing opposition to the Fire Nation military, you are turning your back on your country; I remind you that this is an act of treason," proclaimed the captain, once again cutting the boy off. "According to military law, I should arrest you on the spot. However, you're so young, and the pride of my unit, so I'll be lenient. Convince me that your faith in the Fire Nation’s mission is absolute, and this incident will have never happened."

Logic was quick to make its reply to Zhàn’s ponderings. Of course, take the deal that Captain Pão was offering. It was so simple. Just say that he wasn’t thinking straight, that he was delirious from lack of sleep. There was no error in the Fire Nation’s goals. The war was only meant to share the country’s greatness. It was so simple. He just had to say it.

And yet, he could not.

The easiest path to assuring his freedom, and he couldn’t take it. He simply couldn’t bare himself to utter words that his mind knew were false.

The same questions that’d plagued his mind since he’d returned home barraged his mind again. What was the point of the war? Why couldn’t we have simply stuck with the settlements? How does fighting and death help to spread greatness? Why do people have to die in the name of progress?

He tried to banish those thoughts, as he’d had to do so many times before. It wasn’t his place to understand the point of the war, simply to play his part in winning it.

Zhàn sighed in resignation, readying himself to fulfill his captain’s demands.

But then Lin's face flashed on his eyes. Then his father's. Other members of his troop that had been lost.

Try as he always did to simply fall in line and follow orders like a good soldier, Zhàn could never shake the belief that the Upper Brass didn't see the war like grunts did, its realities, its consequences. For them, the war was simply a particularly stimulating game of Pai Sho, with his father, his friends, his compatriots, he himself, all just pieces on the board.

With shaking legs and a hammering heart, he looked his captain square in the eye. His hope was futile and feeble, but his chance at redemption according to the Captain’s terms were already forfeit. All that mattered to Zhàn now was that his mind was still starving for that simple answer. If he could just get someone to understand, and to help _him_ understand...

"How do you do it, Captain?"

The man's only reply was a perked brow and an inquisitive stare.

"Supporting our cause, our _superiors_ , when we know full well that they don't give a damn about us?"

"We have been over this, boy-"

"I know we have, sir,” Zhàn blurted, his desperation spilling over his captain like hot tea onto an old weathered table. “But I still, for the life of me, cannot understand why we follow the orders of people who cast us away to our deaths like broken dolls!"

"The Fire Lord requires of us our lives to help assure our nation's prosperity," the captain proclaimed with grimly firm finality. "Anything less is treason. Something you have yet to convince me you are not guilty of."

Zhàn could only stare at the captain with pleading eyes as he slowly, shakily, slid into a painful defensive stance.

"Sir, please don't do this..."

"This is your own doing, Zhàn." He whipped up his head and shouted the two words that caused the Zhàn's world to crumble like the walls of Ba Sing Se.

"Arrest him."

(Line break)

The soldier sighed and shook his head. He'd gotten the same answer he'd always gotten. Save for not pressing the issue, nothing would have kept him off of this junction in life. His throat burned as he chuckled.

"Lin always said my mouth was my biggest liability." He sighed again, this time to help clear his thoughts. "Enough dwelling on the past, Zhàn, you have a river to find."

Zhán picked himself up and continued his journey through the woods. Rubbing at his red scratchy eyes, he glanced at the map he managed to steal from Captain Pão during their scuffle.

_That waterfall should be coming up soon._

The waterfall wasn’t Zhán's end objective. In reality, he wanted to reach Heathrow Harbor, the journey to reach it taking Zhàn to the very northern tip of the Fire Nation. It was fortunate that Agni’s Throne was nearby, but it still was out-of-the-way, forcing him to detour to the west of his planned route. It would be an easy task to simply stop by the river, fill his canteen, and get back on his way. The only problem was that his canteen had a hole in it; any water he got at the river would be all he’d have for at least two more days.

He wasn’t without his options, of course. He could probably find a way to construct another canteen; perhaps hollow out a section of the trunk of a tree or fasten some leaves together nice and tight. ...Actually, on second thought, the leaves would be a no-go. He sucked at knitting. As for the tree trunk canteen idea... Well, he'd have to be able to down a tree with a flaming blade, preferably without burning a swath of the forest this time, but he’d still need something to carve the hollow compartment with. And the knife he _did_ have once was probably still sticking out of that one soldier’s neck...

Hmm. Perhaps he could ambush a soldier on patrol. If he got lucky and they had a straggler, it’d be an easy kill and an easier score. He’d simply have to be quiet during execution...

Bah, whatever. Right now, he just needed some water in his gullet. Details about his immediate future could be decided on later.

As the name would suggest, there was a waterfall where he was going which fed the river. It'd been over three years since he'd last seen the falls. Yet as he stumbled forward, he could see it as clear as day. More specifically, as clear as evening. His last memory of the falls ws sitting around a campfire as the sun's waning light turned the clear waters to a dazzling golden blaze. It was the last time he took a trip with his mother to the falls before Zhan was set to be shipped out for training. Perhaps more importantly, it was the first, and only, time he'd brought his best friend along. Tears welled in Zhan's eyes as the air pierced with laughter, recalling a ridiculous and theatrical story he'd invented of a faceless dragon, an old firebending midget, and magical spear.

Forcing himself out of his rivere, Zhan sighed. Where that story had ended with a happy ending in which the midget and dragon joined forces to slay Po, the Destroyer of Squirrels, his story was far too real, and his destination still uncertain.

Despite his coming back to reality, an image of a cave jumped onto Zhan's vision. It was then that his eyes began to twitch, causing a burst of black to obscure his sight. He quickly jammed his palms into his eyes, as if to push the sleep back into the back of his mind. When the trees reappeared, Zhan sighed again. In any other circumstance, that cave would be nothing short of province for him. A place where he could finally rest up, have time to plan out his route to Heathrow; gather up some food to eat and regain his strength.

But in any other case, he wouldn’t be petrified of the thought of laying his head down into the crook of his arms.

He could find sleep when he reached Yu Dao.

Zhán staggered on for another half-hour when he finally heard a faint sound. A sound that he still recognized so many years later. In an instant, Zhàn was stumbling in a drunken stagger through the bushes and trees that stood between him and the first drops of water that he’d had in days. Soon, his stumbling gained a level of coherence and he was running, the sluggishness of his limbs melting away beneath the heat of his joy. Wearing the biggest, most ridiculous grin that he’d worn in months, he positively _sprinted_ for the river. Soon, the heavy shadows of the dense forest started to give way to a bright light. The clearing was _right there!_

“Thirst quenching goodness! Come to-”

He burst through the line thick line of foliage, practically ready to dive into the torrent of water, when another sight made him stop like he’d hit a metal wall.

“...Papa?”

Not quite his father, though to be fair, that would probably bring about the same initial reaction. Instead, it was another little obstacle that fate had decided to slap him with.

Four Fire Nation soldiers were lining the river, and all eyes were on the bedraggled fugitive that’d just rushed in right at them.

Staring at the armor-clad people that looked none-too-happy to see him, Zhàn wanted to bellow very unkind and profanic rantings at Agni for being such a prick. Instead, he opted to simply mutter, “For flame’s sake...”

"I knew I'd catch up with you eventually, Zhán."

The young fugitive turned his head to see a familiar sight strolling in from the middle of the clearing.

It was Captain Pão.

"Captain, what a pleasure to see you again," Zhán weakly replied with a forced grin. "How have you been since I went on leave?"

Zhán's former superior smirked. "I'm doing better than you, obviously. You look like you haven't slept in days."

Zhán crossed his arms as he managed to maintain his grin. "Sleep is for the weak.”

 _So is sanity,_ he could hear Lin chiding in his head.

Zhán bristled.

 _"Shut up,"_ he hissed.

Zhán now looked up with a stone face, studying the soldiers as they approached. One of the soldiers seemed slightly skinnier than Zhán, and the bulges in the chestplate suggested the soldier was female. The long brown hair that draped her shoulders also supplied a hint. Zhàn hated to think stereotypically, but until he saw otherwise, he’d suspect nimbility to be more her preferred tactic over brute strength. Lots of fireballs and quick jabs.

The two guys that flanked her were closer to Zhàn’s build and potentially more rounded in their bending skills. Staring at them for a couple seconds, Zhàn realized they were twins. If he wanted to take them out, he’d have to do so at the same time; he couldn’t count how many times people went berserk when family members went down.

The fourth soldier could be spotted for miles, even through tired, scratchy eyes.

Zhán smirked. _Great to see the hippo-cow again._ Realizing he’d just assumed that the three wildcards were firebenders without proper precedence, he eyed them for weapons. Spying none, he assumed his assumption correct.

"You mind introducing me to your new friends? I don't think I know most of these people."

"I suppose I have a few minutes. This here is Cho," Pão pointed towards the female soldier. She was so much shorter than the other men; looked around Lin’s age... Not nearly as beautiful, though. "Those are Ran and Shu," he continued, pointing to the two regular looking soldiers. "And of course you remember Jían," finished the captain as he pointed to the muscular fortress of a man.

"Hard to forget an ugly face like that, isn't it? Nice to meet you men…and Jían," Zhán responded tauntingly. He received a bone chilling growl from the large grunt and a furious glare from the girl.

"I take it you'll surrender? I'm sure that even you would agree that you can't fight off – let alone beat – all four of these grunts," suggested the captain.

"Oh, please," Zhán retorted with a scoff. "I can handle those three wimps and the behemoth in my sleep." If his adrenaline didn't kick in soon, he would end up calling his own bluff. The earlier spurt of energy from rushing towards the falls was starting to wane, and the soldier could feel his soreness and fatigue rushing back. But Zhán was never one to back down from a fight, especially now that his freedom and life were at stake.

"Well, if there's one thing I always did like about you, Zhán, it was your spunk. It's almost a shame that I have to turn you in." If Zhàn didn’t know better, he’d almost think there was a sense of forlorn in the captain’s eyes.

"Well, you know the rules, Captain. You have to catch me first," Zhán teased as he dropped into a defensive stance. If there was any chance at an escape, then it was boxed in with him as the soldiers encircled. Hatred and anger blazed in their eyes as they stared at their prey. Zhàn could’ve rolled his eyes at the obvious attempt of intimidation. Being that he was no longer a member of the platoon, he was free to let loose.

Of course, his opponents held the exact same sentiment, perhaps none more than Jían.

"I've been waiting two weeks for this," said the muscular grunt as he pounded his fist into his palm. "I'm gonna grind you up, little man."

Zhán finally dropped his smile, his face turning cold.

"You all plan to fight soon, or what?"

"Heh. Your funeral."

With that, Jían charged forward with a burning fist geared to deliver the first blow.

_Of course._

If he had time, Zhàn would have scoffed. He ducked down below the blow, following up with a burning punch of his own to Jián’s abdominals. He knew it wouldn’t do much; his muscle was like wood surrounded by a thin layer of sponge. The blow did what he needed, though, startling Jián and making him stumble back, just in timefor a flash of orange to glint in Zhàn’s peripheral. Whipping to his right, he quickly deflected the flame to its origins and bounded to his left towards Shu.

The soldier shot two flaming barrages at Zhán to try and slow him down. Evasion of the shots were easy. Swift fists discarded the first batch before Zhàn leaped away from the second. The landing, however, yielded a jolt of pain in his legs and he faltered, sliding and collapsing prostrate on the grass. Zhàn glared at Shu who wisely decided to press the advantage.

“Not that easy,” Zhàn growled. The soldier set himself into a spin, the world bending into a blur as fire burned from his heels to increase the speed of the rotation. When he felt like his arms were about to buckle beneath him, he dug his fingers into the grass and flung the fire from his heels towards his assailant.

Shu lept over the band of fire, but Zhàn had anticipated this. He surged to his feet as his opponent went airborne and, with a smirk and a leap, he slammed his knee into Shu's jaw as he came back down. Sending him back into the air by several feet, Zhàn jumped up again, fire pouring from his soles to aid his ascension. He went into a flip as he went airborne and brought his foe back to Earth with a heavy heel to the head.

No sooner had the two landed did Zhán notice Cho charging in from his right. Zhàn’s mind shouted for him to jump back and avoid the girl, but his muscles were burning and slow to obey. He tried to turn towards her and brace, but it was no use. With flaming daggers in her hands, she slammed into Zhàn with crossed arms, the air being shoved from his chest. Zhàn frowned as he saw her smirk on the way down, and grunted from the jolting impact of his back slamming the ground.

“I thought you'd actually be a challenge, the way the Captain talked you up,” Cho sneered, her eyes mere inches from his as she pushed her arms onto his throat. Were Zhàn any less of a gentleman, he’d incinerate her pretty face.

“You shouldn’t wrestle with people outside of your weight-class,” Zhàn strained in reply.

He managed enough strength to push the girl back, just enough to shove a knee into her stomach. He winced as her face turned from snarky to sickly, the blades held at his neck going out.

“Don’t even,” he said as he rolled Cho off of him in time for the dry heaving to start.

Zhán shoved himself to his feet and started to back towards the foliage, only to notice Jían and Ran approaching rapidly. His lungs were heaving air in and out so hard he thought they just might quit. He wouldn't get a chance to truly consider the possibility.

A glint of brightness caught his eye and he glanced to his left. Zhàn nearly went numb at seeing its source.

A giant fireball was hurtling straight at him, riding the ground like an Earth Kingdom child along a frozen lake.

Zhán jumped back, stumbling as the man-sized fireball barely cleared his nose.

A trail of scorched grass, a lane of flames, guiding his eyes to the fireball's source, Zhan blanched. It was Shu, shoulders heaving, blood spilling from his nose, and pure hatred glowing in his yellow eyes like a lantern held by a frenzied killer. His legs, however, had yet to move; producing flames that large usually _did_ take a lot out of a person.

Despite the spots on his eyes, he knew that mobile sun was speeding towards the behemoth and the uninjured twin still charging at him. He smirked at this, awaiting the impact. To Zhàn’s slight dismay, Ran managed to jump out of the way in time, but Zhàn's smirk yet remained as he dipped into stance again. There was no way that lumbering behemoth was going to dodge that.

The blaze hit.

And then the smirk dropped.

Instead of the ball of fire eating him alive like a sacrifice for Agni, the fire bounced away from him and back towards its origins, deciding that Zhàn would be the one to burn on the alter.

Zhàn’s eyes rolled up for only an instant _. Why do you hate me so much?_

The boy quickly hit the dirt as the flame whizzed just inches above his head. He patted out the stray flames in his hair as he staggered to his feet, hissed curses streaming from his mouth as he saw Cho up now, joining the others as they stalked towards him. He shivered, barely standing as he sank into a defensive posture. He glared at the soldiers as they closed in, and glared harder past them to the green of the forest that lie at their backs. He could almost swear he heard the trees mocking him as a stray breeze rustled the leaves.

He was in a very bad position. He was soundly surrounded by soldiers he couldn't seem to pin down. His legs and arms were melting, his chest was exploding, and wait...there were ten of them, now? He had to shake his head to merge the blurs together. All this, and the adrenaline that had kicked in earlier _still_ refused to return.

Lin's voice drawled in his mind again.

_What is it going to take for you to realize this is a lost cause?!_

He crushed together his eyelids and gnashed his teeth to keep from shouting his thoughts at the girl who wasn't there.

_Shut up!_

He needed to retreat, obviously. But this would be easier fathomed than accomplished.

The entire brigade all went into a full-on charge. His mind refused to provide options, so instinct took over. Zhán punched several fireballs to try and slow their advance, but the wave of black-and-red armor deflected the shots with ease.

They were only fifty feet away, would be on him in seconds; Zhàn needed to even the odds. Now.

His chance came when Ran and Shu, located at the fringes of the band, lept into the air to slam Zhàn into the river that teased at his heels. The soldier saw their pouncing intentions and jumped into a forward roll. He latched his eyes on the remaining two as a splash entered his ears, followed by shouts of panic as the river pulled the soldiers away.

The boy still had to evade Jían and Cho. Without a thought, Zhàn barreled towards Jián. The behemoth grabbed for Zhàn when he was in range, but the fugitive slipped beneath Jián’s legs in a slide along the grass.

“Too slow, girly!” Zhàn shouted in taunt as he ran for the trees.

Unfortunately, Zhàn forgot to factor in the one person who had the most to gain from claiming him as a bounty.

Just as he was about to escape from the clearing, there was a sudden heat that bit into his ankle. His forward momentum was suddenly, jerkily, disrupted and he fell to the ground with a startled yelp. The force of the fall was largely suffered by a forearm, the pain spreading to his hand and shoulder like wildfire.

Knowing he’d been caught up in some sort of trap, Zhàn yanked at his bindings, his fingers digging into the dirt and his eyes slamming shut, the pain in his ankle worsening as he clawed his way closer to the green foliage. But his captor would have none of that, yanking him back towards the river. He cried out as the pain flared even worse, then yelped again as he was kicked in the ribs by a large boot. Rolling over from the blow, Zhàn’s haggard breath died when he saw a flaming whip wrapped around his ankle, and who was on the other end of the snake of fire.

Captain Pão.

"Well now. It looks like I win." Captain Pão said with a grim smirk. "I'll give you this much, Zhán. You are more stubborn than a bull. I haven't even seen Earthbenders fight that adamantly when they were only bound to lose. I can't help but respect you for that. In fact, I plan to award your diligence in full."

With a flick of the wrist, Pão recalled the whip to his side as Jían and Cho held the fugitive's arms and ankles. The teen growled in pain as Cho roughly gripped his burnt ankle, but this growl turned to a howling scream as the whip crashed down on his abdomen. The intense, searing sensation that came from the whip's impact immediately overtook the pain in the boy's ankle as it radiated from his abdomen throughout his body. He instinctually tried to move his arms to shield himself from another lashing, but the soldier above him kept his arms well restrained. The second strike yielded another cry of anguish as the whip broke through the thin layer of leather that covered his stomach.

A breeze passed over the patch of pasture, and Zhan's spine froze as the cool air passed over his stomach.

His skin was exposed now.

_Agni, please..._

A third crack of the whip not only singed his skin, but also drew some blood. The captain cracked the whip down again and again, causing Zhán's screams to grow louder and louder. Soon, the pain was so bad that he was shaking. He could hardly even hear his own screams above the deafening ringing in his ears.

"Come now, Zhán..." He could barely make out the muffled sounds of the captain's voice beneath the unending whine in his ears.

Lin's voice, however, chimed as clear as an explosion of blasting jelly.

_If we die because of your stubborn stupidity-_

"S-sh-sh-shut…u-uu-up!" Zhán violently shuddered as his body convulsed wildly from the fire that now seemed to consume his body.

Captain Pão growled as he brought the whip down upon Zhán again, the slashing flame digging deeper into his skin. Black burst onto his sight as he screamed again, and his mind began to scramble. The sleep wasn’t worth it; there was no escape in rest.

He thought he heard Pão say something; if he did, he had no clue what it was. All he could do was lay there, writhing as the blows kept coming. Then the darkness approached him, engulfing the river before him, the forest behind, and devouring the grass that lay beneath. Only one chant kept sleep from throwing its veil over Zhàn’s eyes.

“No... No, no, no, nooo...” Zhàn murmured as he shook his head violently.

The captain spoke again, and this time, Zhàn heard him.

"Very well."

Like a snake rearing up, the whip crawled up above Pão’s shoulder. But before it could dive back down to dig its fangs into his flesh again, the whip exploded in a puff of smoke. It was then that everything stopped. The captain stood frozen. Neither Cho nor Jián spoke or shifted. The only movement was Zhàn’s violent shivering as the pain continued to eat him alive.

Zhàn strained to try and read his former superior’s face, trying to figure out why he’d suddenly stopped attacking. He could barely make out the expression on the man’s face, but when it clicked, ice surged down his spine again. He looked like he was staring at a spire of earth that was flying at his head. His eyes bulged in fear, as if he were unable to dodge the shank that would pierce his entire face. For a few seconds, the man stood like this in frozen hypnosis. Finally, he fell to the ground, revealing a new person behind him.

The sudden wild card was small, petite even. The person was young; younger than he was, if the silhouette that marked his fogging vision could be counted as a reliable guide. Zhàn was barely able to make out colors. The center of the blur was dark, reddish, with light pale skin marking the edges. The black and red had to be troop armor.

Zhàn shivered. Normally soldiers branded some sort of weapon, the girl didn’t seem to have any in her possession. He would’ve expected firebending then, but he hadn’t heard any blasts… But it wasn’t out of the question. There were firebenders who specialized in surgical strikes. Most firebending assassins would use a flaming dagger to…

An assassin… They'd gone so far as to sic an assassin on him? ...No, that couldn't be it, he had no political or military value, he was just a grunt. A bounty hunter, then? But why would a Fire Nation bounty hunter operate in the mainland? There were more frugal targets in the Earth Kingdom...

A ripple of pain tore Zhàn from his distracting thoughts.

_I've gotta find a way out of here..._

Between the pain ripping him to ribbons and the restraint on his limbs, that would be hard.

Jían's voice entered his ears.

"Did that kid just-"

"I did," a petite voice, a girl's, came from the black-and-red blob. "If you don't want the same thing, you’ll let him go!"

Zhàn could’ve groaned. He never was one to care for popularity, but he would have honestly enjoyed becoming the primary prey of wolf-bats over this.

At least the girl prompted a predictable reaction out of Jián. The behemoth pushed away his grasp of Zhàn’s arms and charged at the girl, the way a starved liger might lunge at a rabbit. And like a rabbit, she leapt out of the way of the blood-thirsty strike. Jián went to strike again with an ear-shattering roar, yet the girl, calm and decisive, spun away from the blow and, like a puff of smoke, popped up behind the monster of a man. There was a shocked cry from him as she landed a series of blows on his arm, and Zhàn couldn’t help wondering what the deal was. The punches didn’t look like they could do anything…

And then Jián’s right arm went slack. And were it not secured in a agonized grimace, Zhàn’s jaw would have followed suit.

That rabbit...had the fangs of a giant blood-sucking leech...

Another bellow and Jián was charging her again, this time throwing out his good hand to grab her face, flame pouring from his palm. With the slightest leap back, she narrowly avoided the blow, only to retaliate with a series of punches trailing up his arm. Just as it went slack as well, Jián responding with a bewildered stream of curses, the girl slid behind the man, jumped up, and slammed an elbow into the back of his big meaty neck.

And then, like giant redwood, he toppled and fell. All Zhàn could do was stare, the earth rumbling as he hit the ground. And behind him she stood, fists poised and ready to strike again.

“There is no way... A child couldn't have-"

The hands that held Zhàn’s legs began to shake and he looked down to see Cho staring at her fallen comrade. He could only see part of her face, but he could still spot the tension, the sneering curl of her lips, the deep dent in her brow.

The shaking stopped and Cho rose to her feet, staring at the girl for the briefest moment before following Jián’s lead and charging at her.

Expecting only more of the same, Zhàn laid his head back as he contemplated his options again, all the while folding in like a piece of parchment in a burning fire. Between Captain Pão and Jián, he wasn’t sure if a full two minutes had passed. With the kid as skilled as she was, Cho would be down in mere seconds. If he tried to run, he wouldn’t get far. Even if he _could_ get to his feet, he couldn’t hope to run away. And as much blood as he was losing, he was likely to faint any minute. Not to mention wherever he went, there was an easy trail to follow.

Once again, his only option was retaliation.

Zhàn rolled onto his side and, with the speed of a wounded turtle, raised himself onto his elbows.

There was a series of grunts and Zhàn's eyes jerked towards the sound.

 _You could’ve lasted a_ minute _, woman…_

There was another grunt. But it was then that Zhàn realized something… He’d heard Cho grunt from hits a few times in the span of their skirmish. The voice was too high in pitch to be her...

He held his breath, trying to force himself to see what was going on. He could only last a second before his breath was forced back out by the pain bursting from his belly. Yet he still tried to stabilize his breathing, air barely reaching his lungs as he strangled his throat. Soon, as he stayed his eyes on the figures ahead of him, the blur xstarted to focus into tangible shapes.

... _You’re kidding me..._

Before him, the girls were in the midst of a dangerous dance. Fire blazed from Cho’s fists as the other girl constantly tried to jump, dive, duck, twirl and weave to avoid her attacks. Her attempts at retaliation seemed ineffective. After a failed bust of punches, the girl tried to duck behind Cho to strike her back, but with an intercepting sweep of her foot, the child slammed to the ground, though she quickly jumped up when the soldier punched a fireball at her face.

Zhàn was dumbstruck. Where she’d knocked out the Captain and Jián with such ridiculous ease, Cho countered her strikes like a drill sergeant putting a fresh unruly trainee in his place.

Zhàn frowned, clutching his fingers into the grass as a wave of pain swept on him.

“Oh screw this.”

And the soldier, with all the fire that poured from his stomach, geared back an arm and threw it forward, launching a fireball at the girls. Cho jumped back from the flame’s approach, and strangely, perhaps in panic or trying to force an advantage, the girl followed her. Zhàn watched the fireball hopelessly fly towards nothing but open air.

_Wonder if a second shot would have better-_

Zhàn’s thoughts were halted when he saw one of the girls kick the other back toward the flame. There was an agonized shout as the fire collided with the person, and not a second later, another flash of orange materialized in the distance, blasting from the girl who was upright down onto the girl who was on the grass. The girl jumped up, but another scream yet pierced the air.

Zhàn gawked, his pain forgotten for the briefest time as he realized...

The bounty hunter… He had hit the bounty hunter...That quickly, with one seemingly futile punch, he’d shifted the tide of the battle….

In any other circumstance, he’d be happy.

The child was struggling now. While her right fist thrust forward like a hungry serpent, she barely used her left, keeping her left arm pinned to her side. Her movements appeared wearisome and desperate.

The firebender ruthlessly pushed her advantage, keeping the kid at close-quarters distance. The girl, quickly deciding she was done, jumped back to retreat, but as she came back down, Cho launched yet another ball of fire at her. The girl shrieked and twisted to avoid the blow, only to cry again as Cho charged and slammed an elbow into her ribs. The girl twisted and skid, struggling not to fall from the hit, then responded with a shrill cry as she leapt at Cho in return, a savage left-handed blow aimed at her neck. Cho easily countered, dodging and grabbing the girl's arm as it flew past her head. There was a very audible pop and an anguished scream as Cho forced the girl's left arm behind her back, and then a whimpered gasp when she saw the fire dagger poised at her neck.

“Got ya, you little roach.”

Zhàn closed his eyes, ruefully awaiting the inevitable take-down as his mind began to panic. He had no idea what he was going to do. He finally subjected to the fact that’d been dangling in front of his face ever since the flogging started. He’d descended into a lose-lose situation. Had he helped the assassin, of course, he would only have quickened his capture. But now that the assassin was in Cho’s death grip, what would keep the woman from subsequently capturing him?

Zhàn sighed. There was no way he’d allow himself to be captured. Yet even _he_ was above the cowardly act of suicide. As usual, he only had one option.

“I might as well have some fun in my last moments.”

Another scream pierced the air and Zhàn sighed, expecting to open his eyes to the sight of a victorious Cho tossing aside the body of a meddlesome child.

What Zhàn saw threatened to put him in shock.

Gazing at the scene, Zhàn saw Cho stumbling to keep balance as the girl in her clutches writhed like mad to get loose. When the writhing didn't seem to work, the girl hiked up a leg and slammed a heel square into Cho's knee. The soldier shrieked as she shifted to her good leg, but the girl didn't let up, slamming the back of her head into Cho's face. Again and again, then a third and fourth time, she slammed her hair-padded skull into Cho's nose, earning a pained shout and more blood with each hit. The girl then dug her heels into the ground as she forced her opponent back, and when Cho put pressure on that weak leg, she and the girl went down like a toppled pagoda.

The girl burst out of Cho's grip as they hit the ground, scrambled to her feet and, without any sort of hesitance, slammed the toe of her boot into the side of Cho's head.

One shout, one kick, and that was it.

After all that, there were three unconscious bodies on the ground, one huffing child, and an injured writhing soldier.

Zhàn glared as the girl made her approach.

“Oh, this is going to be _real_ fun.”

With agony still gnawing into his center and limbs trying to fail him, Zhàn forced himself up. An old cripple would laugh at his state. Crawling on all fours just to orient himself towards the girl, pushing himself up with his hands to stretch his back straight. Nearly having to lift up his legs with his hands just to make them move. The fire in his belly was sapping him of what little strength he had left and the humiliation planted its seed of insanity, making him _want_ to faint.

By the time he was finally up, he wanted to collapse again. He spread his legs, slowly shifting into stance.

Everything in him was screaming that what was doing was absolutely stupid. He wouldn't deny this. But Agni be damned if he died a coward.

“Alright Princess,” he said, his voice shuddering instead of shouting like he wanted, “Let’s dance.”

He glared at his opponent, waiting for her to barrel into a run, ready to take him down. He shivered as the fire in his stomach worsened. Soon, the sensation changed. From the agony of a blazing fire, to...

Oh no...

Zhàn fell again to his knees as his stomach caved in on itself. His mouth acquired a horrible taste of acid as regurgitation spewed from between his lips. The heaves came again and again, each one producing more acid that tore at his throat and rotted his mouth. By the time he finally stopped, his head was swimming.

He growled.

_“Honestly, Agni, why not just...”_

And like an act of vengeance for the constant mockery, Agni called forth the army of darkness, rushing in from the fringes of his sight like swarms of bees on a fool that’d smashed their hive. Zhàn’s mind thrashed, a thousand thoughts and a thousand curses bellowing in the ethereal air as it tried to keep itself above the choppy waves. A heat arose in his arms, and he could barely smell the scent of burning flesh, but this did not ward off the encroaching darkness. As the shroud of night enveloped Zhàn completely, he only could hear a cry before all went silent.

**Author's Note:**

> If you managed to reach the end of this chapter, congratulations! You just read through over 10k words of a first chapter! When I started rewriting this chapter, I knew it'd be more complicated than in my first iteration of the story, but I had no idea I'd end up contributing over 75% to the word count. :D
> 
> Anyway, I thank you dearly for taking the time to read through this first chapter; the second should be in its rough-draft stage by the end of this week, though no solid promises. Depending on how long it takes for my beta back at FF.net to look through the chapter and help me tighten things up, I might have the second chapter up within the next one-to-two weeks.
> 
> Thank you, again, for taking the time to read this. I hope it was worth your while, and hope to keep you thoroughly entertained as the journey continues.
> 
> Grace and Peace, and Happy Writing.


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